EW is the big weakness for NATO, JDAM, Excaliburs and HIMARS more and more failed due to a very good russian EW :
In the field of electronic warfare, Moscow is gaining a clear advantage over both Ukraine and its Western allies. Nato is now reportedly powerless to help Kiev defend itself against Russian jamming.By Thomas RomanaccePublished on 03/12/2023 at 8:30 am & updated on 03/12/2023 at 11:50 am
Electronic warfare is Ukraine's greatest weakness. That's what Seth Jones, a senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Economist. According to this political scientist and counter-terrorism expert, Kiev's allies have focused too much on material aid. Nato members have provided the Ukrainian army with many tanks, missiles and artillery systems, and have completely forgotten about the cyber-electronic side of the conflict.
According to Seth Jones, Russia has for many years emphasized the use of its military-industrial complex to produce and develop an impressive range of electronic warfare capabilities to counter the highly interconnected systems of the Atlantic organization. On the contrary, Kiev found itself at the start of the war with electronic weapons systems dating mainly from the Soviet era. According to Valéri Zaloujni, head of the Ukrainian General Staff, this difference had only a limited impact at the start of the conflict, but as relatively static lines of contact emerged, Russia was able to position its formidable electronic warfare assets where they could have the greatest effect.
READ ALSOThe Ukrainian General Staff has no plans to wage war in 2024In March 2023, Ukraine discovered that its GPS-guided Excalibur shells were suddenly starting to miss their targets, thanks to Russian jamming. The guided bombs that the USA had supplied to the Ukrainian air force experienced a similar problem, while Ukraine's Himar long-range rockets also began to miss their target. In some areas, the majority of Ukrainian ammunition is now ineffective.
The Ukrainian General Staff has no plans to wage war in 2024
In March 2023, Ukraine discovered that its GPS-guided Excalibur shells were suddenly starting to miss their targets, thanks to Russian jamming. The guided bombs that the USA had supplied to the Ukrainian air force experienced a similar problem, while Ukraine's Himar long-range rockets also began to miss their target. In some areas, the majority of Ukrainian ammunition is now ineffective.
Ukraine loses 10,000 drones a month
What worries Kiev's top brass even more is the growing ability of Moscow's forces to counter the multitudes of cheap drones that Ukrainian troops use for everything from battlefield reconnaissance and communications to detonating on impact against targets such as tanks or command nodes. Ukraine has trained an army of some 10,000 drone pilots who are now constantly engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with increasingly skilled Russian drone operators.
The preferred drones are cheap, costing no more than 900 euros each, and Ukraine is building huge numbers of them. However, losses due to Russian jamming, which destroys guidance systems or radio links with operators, sometimes amount to more than 2,000 a week. Affected drones hover aimlessly until their batteries run down and they fall to the ground.
CIA helped Ukraine design naval drones used against Russia
It is not yet possible, at least for mini-UAVs, to protect them against jamming or to equip them with artificial intelligence that enables them to fly without a direct link to a human operator. Quantity still outweighs quality, but Russia may have an advantage here too. The skies above the battlefield are now littered with Russian drones. Around Bakhmout, Ukrainian soldiers estimate that Russia is deploying twice as many assault drones as it can handle.
American reluctance to help Kiev
Russia's growing success in drone warfare is due in part to the density of new systems it is able to deploy, thanks to years of investment. A report published last May by Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds of Rusi, a London-based think-tank, states that the Russians have a large electronic weapons system every 10 kilometers along the front line.
They believe that among Russia's many electronic weapons systems, the truck-mounted Shipovnic-Aero is particularly dangerous for Ukrainian drones. The system has a range of 10 kilometers and can take control of the drone, while acquiring the coordinates of the location from which it is being piloted, with an accuracy of one meter, and transmitting them to an artillery battery.
Ukraine specialist Nico Lange is equally pessimistic. On the one hand, he suspects that Nato's capabilities may not be as good as Russia's. Worse still, when it comes to the Ukraine, Nato's capabilities may not be as good as those of Russia. Worse still, when it comes to the latest systems, he believes that there is also a certain reluctance, especially on the part of the Americans, to show their technological capabilities to Russia because exploitable information, for example on the frequencies and channel hopping techniques used, is likely to be passed on to the Chinese.